North America

San Francisco-based Ashbury Heights Capital has been granted leave to proceed with its fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against market intelligence company FactSet Research Systems and securities executive Doug Engmann.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed rules, forms and amendments to modernise and enhance the reporting and disclosure of information by investment companies and investment advisers.
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The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the supervision of cross-border regulated firms.
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The CFTC has secured a court order requiring two commodity pool operators and their principal Michael J Siegel to pay restitution of USD104,684.47, disgorgement of USD86,503.36, and a civil monetary of USD259,510.08 over the misappropriation of funds.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Buffalo, NY-based investment advisory firm and two co-owners accused of making false and misleading statements to clients regarding investments in a hedge fund.
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More than 600 buyside firms and corporations are registered for Markit | Genpact KYC Services centralised service to streamline the management of know your customer (KYC) information required by banks.
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The SEC has filed insider trading charges against a New Jersey-based hedge fund manager who allegedly used material, nonpublic information to trade in advance of market-moving news concerning Carter's Inc.
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Total regulatory assets under management (RAUM) reported by all investment advisers as of 7 April was USD61.7 trillion, representing a substantial increase from the USD54.8 trillion RAUM reported in April 2013.
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Former hedge fund manager Rajarengan “Rengan” Rajaratnam has agreed to pay more than USD840,000 and accept securities industry bars in order to settle the Securities and Exchange Comission’s (SEC) insider trading case against him.
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The SEC has sanctioned a high frequency trading firm for placing a large number of rapid-fire trades in the final two seconds of trading each day to manipulate the closing prices of NASDAQ-listed stocks.
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The US CFTC has issued a time-limited no-action letter stating that it will not take enforcement action against Singapore Exchange Derivatives Clearing Limited (SGX-DC) for failure to comply with the applicable swap data reporting requirements of Commission Regulations 45.3 and 45.4.
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The Hedge Fund Association (HFA) has submitted a comment letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the regulatory agency considers proposed changes to the definition of an “accredited investor” under Rule 501 of Regulation D.
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Market regulation is starting to impact the way prime brokers do business with their hedge fund clients. The need to store away more capital and strengthen their balance sheets under Basel III regulations and other requirements imposed by central banks are set to redefine the way primes view their clients, with the return on assets they earn from them likely to become the de facto parameter.
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By Kavitha Ramachandran, Maitland Group – The EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) has essentially created a vast ‘Fortress Europe’. As of 22 July this year, managers of alternative investment funds must become authorised under the Directive as ‘AIFMs’ (Alternative Investment Fund Managers) or accept the burden and uncertainty of the private placement regimes if they want to market their funds in Europe.
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Under the stewardship of Mary Jo White, Chairperson of the SEC, the US regulator is pursuing a “Broken Windows” enforcement strategy, as used to great effect by the New York police department in the 90s.
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The SEC has charged two individuals with insider trading on a hedge fund manager’s announcement that his fund had formed a negative view of Herbalife Ltd and taken a USD1 billion short position in its securities.
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The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on the supervision of cross-border entities.
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The introduction of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) into European law in 2013 was part of a series of moves towards greater regulatory oversight of the hedge fund industry in recent years. In our survey, we asked hedge fund managers for their views on the effect of these new regulations on the industry as well as their expectations about the impact of the AIFMD on their firm over the next 12 months, the results of which are analyzed in this extract from the Preqin Special Report: AIFMD in the Hedge Fund Industry – 2015 Update.
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A couple of years ago, the title Chief Information Security Officer, or CISO for short, was a foreign concept within the hedge fund community. The winds have changed, however, as hedge funds become increasingly targeted by cyber hackers, causing many to hire a CISO to uphold the network integrity of the firm.
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Sovereign wealth funds, though small in number and secretive in nature, wield considerable influence as investors as a result of their sizeable assets under management. This extract is taken from Preqin’s latest report which features exclusive content from the 2015 Preqin Sovereign Wealth Fund Review.
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Mergers and acquisitions in recent years have changed the face of hedge fund administration. Big custodial banks are likely to dominate the HFA space in years to come, forming one part of a barbell with a number of well-run, well-capitalised independent HFAs on the other end. This report examines the implications for both hedge funds and their administrators... »

The North American private debt industry has seen substantial growth in assets over the last decade. This extract from the Preqin Special Report: Private Debt in North America looks at the current state of private debt fundraising and funds currently in market.
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